Final Stats

RUSTON, La. - The Louisiana Tech baseball team shutout FIU, 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at J.C. Love Field. The win clinched Tech's third-straight series triumph, and wrapped up the month of March with a 17-4 record.

"Taking care of your business at home, and not getting swept on the road is a recipe for great things," head coach Lane Burroughs noted. "We're 30 games into the season, and one thing you can say about these guys is that they've shown a resiliency to bounce back. That's the sign of a good team - a team that can suffer a bad loss, and put it behind you and find a way to win the next one and the series. We've shown that this year early on."

Tech (22-8, 7-2 C-USA) got a strong start from left-hander Logan Bailey, who went six innings of shutout baseball, giving up eight hits and striking out six. Bailey made it through six innings for fourth time this season, and improved to 4-1, while lowering his ERA to 2.11.

"I thought the ball was coming out of Logan's hand as well as it has all year," Burroughs said. "That's exactly how he looked in the fall and early on this spring - really sharp. He had to pitch out of some jams, but it's a good feeling when you've got a reliable late-inning guys down there, to help you navigate through those final innings."

On the offensive side, Tech was outhit as a team, 10-5, but the Bulldogs made the most of their opportunities, stranding only two runners, while the Panthers (13-16, 4-5 C-USA) stranded 10.

Tech got the scoring started in the bottom of the third, with some timely two-out hits from the top of the lineup. Second baseman Hunter Wells shot a double the opposite way to left center for Tech's first hit of the day, bringing up Skelton, who lined an RBI single into right, giving Tech the early 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs tacked on a couple more runs in the fifth and sixth innings, via the long ball, as Steele Netterville and Mason Mallard drove a pair of solo home runs off the FIU starter, MacDonald. In the bottom of the fifth, Netterville came up with two outs and the bases empty, and promptly took a 1-0 fastball deep over the fence, ricocheting off the brick wall of the apartments in left field. The following inning, Mallard, also with two outs, golfed a low 3-2 pitch that had just enough to carry over the wall in left, increasing the Bulldogs' lead to 3-0.

Bailey ran into some trouble early on, as the speedy Derek Cartaya led the game off with a double into right center. The FIU second baseman, then moved to second on a wild pitch strikeout from Bailey, that catcher Chris Clayton had to complete at first. The following batter in Eddie Silva also struck out swinging, and Clayton again had to complete the out at first, as the ball bounced in the dirt. Cartaya tried to swipe home on the throw to first from the Tech catcher, but Graham Hackbarth made a strong through back to Clayton, who put down a perfect tag on Cartaya, completing the double play, and ending the early Panther threat.

Bailey got some more strong defensive help behind him in the top of the fourth, as Juan Teixeira singled into right field with two outs. Christian Khawam, who was at first base, aggressively tried to come home, but a nice 9-4-2-5 relay gunned down Khawam between second and third for the final out.

Nick MacDonald (1-2) took the loss for FIU, going six innings, while allowing three runs (all earned) on four hits. The right-hander struck out six and walked one.

Sophomore left-hander Kyle Griffen, entered in relief of Bailey in the top of the seventh, and continued his brilliant 2018 campaign. Griffen tossed two innings, giving up a pair of hits, while striking out two, and did not allow a run. The sidewinder has now pitched 17.1 innings of relief, while striking out 17 and walking three, and has not allowed a run (earned or unearned) to score.

Senior Kent Hasler relieved Griffen in the top of the ninth, and was equally dominant, needing only 10 pitches to dispatch of the FIU side in order, nailing down his fifth save of the season in the process.

Tech returns to action with a pair of midweek games this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday. First, Tech will make the short drive over to face the Grambling Tigers at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by a home date with Little Rock on Wednesday, also at 6 p.m.

Be sure to tune into LATechSports.com and follow @LATechBSB on Twitter for in-game updates, and breaking news regarding the 2018 Diamond 'Dogs.